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Vai'kesh
The Vai'kesh (known amongst themselves as the Manu'Ostar) are a group of Elves who long ago fell to the use of dark and powerful magics. At one time, they were the stewards of the Aegis of Death in Aman'lu, but after a ritual devastated their ranks, and left the survivors horribly disfigured; the elders banished them into the cursed fringes of the Vai'lutra Forest forever after. In Elven, Vai'kesh means 'evil spirits'. Appearance The Vai'kesh look very different from the Elves that they once were. Their rotting skin has become a dull purple, and their hair, pale. Their features are sunken and skeletal, as if they themselves were zombies. Their eyes are little more than pinpricks of fiery light within the shadows of their brow. The Vai'kesh tend to wear rich clothing, decorated with ancient Elven designs. More advanced members of the group supplement these clothes with suits of full-body armor, as well. History Origins The Manu Ostar were a guild of sorcerers, formed to harness the power of the Aegis of Death, which had been brought to Aman'lu by an ancient scholar. These mages channeled powerful spells through the artifact, and became masters of death magic through increasingly complex ceremonies that involved the mana of not only one of two Elves, but the entire guild. One such ritual backfired, however. Over half of the Manu Ostar were killed instantly, but the other half survived, even as their flesh began to decompose. But these mages did not die. The survivors found that their mastery over death magic had increased a hundred-fold, as if they had been imbued with the powers of the Aegis itself. The other Elves of Aman'lu soon began to fear the Manu Ostar and their unchecked power. The elders banished their kind into the darkest reaches of the Vai'lutra Forest, the places known as the Vai'kesh Forest, 'the forest of evil spirits'. For centuries afterwards, these exiles would be known to outsiders as the Vai'kesh. Dungeon Siege II The Vai'kesh longed to reclaim the Aegis of Death, but the magics that protected the vault in which it was kept, deep below Aman'lu, were too powerful for even them to break. One of their number, known only as the Vai'kesh Prophet, foresaw a day, however, when they would at last be able to take the artifact for their own. This day came in the year 1243, when Celeb'hel the Elder entrusted the Aegis into the care of Evangeline, princess of the Northern Reaches. She sought to take the Shield fragment back to Snowbrook Haven, where she hoped it would be safe from Valdis and his armies. While she succeeded in robbing Valdis of the Aegis, the caravan carrying it was ransacked by the Vai'kesh, who took the artifact into the Vai'kesh Sanctuary. A hero, seeking the princess, came across the ruined caravan, and learned from Caravan Driver Mylindril what the Vai'kesh had done. The hero and their companions confronted the Vai'kesh Prophet, but he refused to surrender the Aegis, claiming that a second Endtime was coming, and that the Manu Ostar would rise from the ashes of the world stronger than ever before. The hero was forced to pursue the Prophet through the Vai'kesh Forest, and into Arinth's Ravine, where he was eventually slain in combat. But the Vai'kesh had left the Aegis under the protection of a powerful plant creature, one that they had long nourished with the blood of sacrificed prisoners, the Knotted Shambler. Eventually, the party was able to slay the Shambler, and take the Aegis of Death. Princess Evangeline returned some time later, alongside this group, to free the royal guards who had been captured by the Vai'kesh. Tricking the dark Elves into believing she sought to pay ransom, Evangeline slaughtered the wretches. Fighting their way through several strongholds hidden in the depths of the Vai'kesh Forest, the heroes were able to rescue the knights, including Eva's close friend, Jessic. These heroes also learned the Vai'kesh's secret to speaking to the dead for Mage Lyssanore, and stopped their vile sect from freeing a powerful demon imprisoned deep within their territory. Broken World Following the Second Cataclysm, which had come to pass as prophesied by the fallen Prophet, the Vai'kesh began to move closer to Aman'lu. Soon after, the Familiars, the ancient enemies of the Elves, returned. When a cadre of Estelath Warriors disappeared while hunting Familiars, the group's leader, Talain, asked the recently-returned heroes, who had defeated Valdis a year before, to track down his missing friends. They eventually found out what had happened from a Vai'kesh warrior named Rinerel. According to Rinerel, the Estelath Warriors had been attacked by the Familiars, and overwhelmed. The Vai'kesh had swooped in to save them from the wretched creatures, but were only able to save one of them, a young Elf named Benlir. The heroes were suspicious, but Rinerel pointed them to a crypt nearby, where the Vai'kesh had interred the fallen Estelath Warriors to prevent their bodies from being used by the Familiar Surgeons. Bringing this knowledge back to Talain, it was decided that a tenuous alliance would be made between the Elves of Aman'lu and the Vai'kesh. Doubts began to form when the heroes discovered the body of an Estelath Warrior within the upper chambers of the Calennor Stronghold, with a broken Vai'kesh blade through his heart. Taking the blade to Aman'lu, Benlir's memories began to come back to him. He and his fellows had been attacked not by the Familiars, but by the Vai'kesh themselves. His mind had been clouded by their magic, and he was used as a sign of their "good will", so that the dark Elves could get closer to their ancient kin before carrying out their terrible vengeance. Returning to the Vai'kesh, the heroes were attacked by Rinerel and his brethren. They fought their way into the depths of their Sanctuary, and discovered a new Prophet leading them, Argir. Slaying the Prophet and freeing a number of Estelath Warriors being held by the Vai'kesh as sacrificial fodder for their foul ceremonies, the heroes returned to Talain, who thanked them for revealing the duplicity of the Vai'kesh before they could carry out their evil schemes.Category:Enemies Category:Dungeon Siege II Enemies Category:Organizations Category:Elves